Princesses
by three-tailed-fox
Summary: There are many kingdoms, and the Aoyama kingdom wants them all. Their king would do anything to gain them; murder, marriage, polygamy, anything.
1. Ichigo

Princess

Ichigo Is Introduced

"Death happens when everyone you loved in your life is brutally taken by misfortune."

Ichigo is 16 years old; a princess of part of the Forest Kingdom; and already had three children. She was in an arranged marriage when she was almost 13 in order to keep the Aoyama kingdom from taking over her kingdom and corrupt the place. (Besides, her mom was pregnant again and they found out that the baby was a boy.) Her parents wanted her to have a happy life, and she had liked her fiancé who was named Masaya Aoyama, but that soon changed at the night of the wedding. He got drunk and raped her, even though she was able to fight him off around ten minutes later. She immedietly forgave him because he was drunk and she had to be a loving wife. The next day, her father was assassinated in front of hers and her mother's eyes. The day after that, her mom 'committed suicide' and Masaya became King. A couple months later, she had a baby and Masaya wasn't as abusive towards her, until he got drunk at a ball at the Cloud kingdom, and raped her again.

Over the next three years, her cheerful, hyper, determined, healthy and happy-to-be-single self faded away and she became submissive and sick all the time. Her bright red hair dulled and was forced to grow it out, and her eyes looked soulless. She became too skinny from refusing to eat and was forced to stay in her room because of that. There were few days when she was let out, and someone was always watching her and wouldn't let her talk to any men or manservant except Masaya.

Everything around her seemed to turn slightly grey.

**This morning, **

Ichigo wandered around in the castle, wearing her magenta foot-length dress with a light pink sash across her belly and mahogany lace rimming the low collar that went directly from shoulder to shoulder. Her high heels and the bell around her neck echoed throughout the stone hallway, empty from the portraits of her parents, herself, and generations before them that were there before. She stopped and glanced around, looking outside one of the windows, and seeing the town outside. _It used to be so beautiful when my father ruled. But now that my husband, Masaya, married me then took over…_ She thought as she looked away quickly, her cat ears lowering, her cat tail curling around her leg and her long, red waist length hair with pink tips swished back and forth as she continued down the hall and stopped at the corner of the hall that branched out to the side. There she looked up to see a giant portrait of herself sitting on a fine chair, with a pale, black-haired child with black cat ears on her lap, and her husband standing beside her, wearing the King's crown and holding the Queen's staff, which both were supposed to be hers because only the ones of the royal blood were only allowed to even touch. But Masaya didn't give a damn about the tradition, and took them away from her, which thus, sped up the ruin of her kingdom.

_The painter made it seem that I was happy at the time, and he didn't paint the bruises on my chest or neck; but he thought that my lips were naturally swollen so he gave me a fat lip._

She passed by maids and butlers who bowed down on the ground as she passed by, but all that Ichigo noticed about them was their faces. _They all look so pale, _She thought. _But I know they're all well fed, but everything looks like its losing its color and turning greyer and greyer… maybe I'm going colorblind. Oh well… _

She sighed and walked down one of the branched hallways in silence until she found herself in the garden. She walked over to the stone gazebo and sat on the bench. She sat there for a while, staring out into space. Frankly, there was nothing to look at; the flowers were all dried up and rotting away. There was also a corpse of what used to be a small dog. That belonged to my sister-wife; or used to. She looked up at the low roof in front of her and saw white fragments of what she couldn't guess what they used to be, and there was a mark of what probably looked like something gooey was surrounding them, then dried up, leaving a large dark spot on the roof. She turned her head to look at the inside of the gazebo, seeing dried grape vines with rotten grapes hanging from the stone beams high above her head.

She at least enjoyed the somewhat fresh – but not fresh enough – air that surrounded her. That was, until she heard a child's voice.

"Mommy."

She looked up slowly to see a small boy with wispy black hair and black cat ears and tail. He was in a little blue tux and his almost-white face and blue eyes stared at her. She sniffed his scent and looked away in disgust and in an icy tone, "You are that man's son; not my child. Go away. I don't want to see you ever again."

The boy looked at the ground as Ichigo stood up, walked past him, and exited the garden up to her room. She's had enough being outside and went to sulk in her room and lock the door. She doesn't care if Masaya breaks down the door and beats her up again; as long as her misery ended she won't care.


	2. Mint

Mint

"A bird that flies free form a cage always ends up getting caught again."

Mint was almost 16 and wanted to die; even though she is a princess and could have almost anything she wanted. But she wasn't happy about the arranged marriage to some man who was already married.

She met the man about two, maybe three years ago, and she saw that he was abusive on first sight after seeing the look he gave her when they were introduced. She saw what he did to his wife after he got drunk and dragged her into a bedroom. His wife hadn't even recovered from having her child even halfway. Mint saw the whole thing through the cracked open door next to a friend. After that, she kept asking her parents "Why did you do this to me? That man got drunk as soon as he got here, and then raped his wife!" And they would always answer, "We love you, but we are trying to make peace and have to keep the Aoyamas from taking over the kingdom. Besides, your older brother is next in line for the throne and a child on the way, so they will not try to take over."

She had yet to receive a letter from them after half a year of the marriage.

She hated her new life. She was like a caged bird trying to get free from its cage, yet her escape plans kept failing. She was now forced to wear clothes that seemed 'suitable' for her to wear in Masaya's eyes, which were just really skanky dresses with most of her chest showing and all of her back, legs, and the hem barely covers the butt. It left plenty of room for her wings and bird tail to be comfortable, but she wanted to wear her old clothes, which made her feel most comfortable. But he burned most of her old clothes, and she hid the rest where he couldn't find them. When she refused to give him the rest of her clothes, he took her pet dog away and shot it in the courtyard; then left the corpse there to rot or for someone to clean his mess.

As if it wasn't enough, he banned her from going out of her room without an escort of five guards, and started forcing her to wear her hair down and grow it out, instead of having it shoulder-length or in two buns.

She decided to commit suicide when Masaya raped her, but when she remembered her family, she decided to put it off for until after she saw them again. A few days later she laid twin eggs. But she knew that they would have to suffer having their wings clipped and sold to slavery if they hatched, so she ended their misery by throwing them as far as she could towards the kitchen, and let them shatter into pieces. She felt depressed for the rest of the day. (But it was only natural for women losing a child; born or not.) Sometimes she looks out the window to see the remaining fragments on the roof of the kitchen next to the garden.

**This morning, **

Mint sat alone in her tea room, wings drooping, staring at all of the spilled tea and broken tea set. It was her favorite one because of the little blue birds on it. All that she was doing earlier was drinking her normal tea at the time she always did – in the early morning – then her husband, Masaya, came in and trashed it all, slapped her, and yelled at her, saying that she was supposed to be in her bedroom, waiting to 'receive' him and give him a good break from the outside world. Then he stormed out of the room.

Then suddenly, she had an idea. She knows that the third wife can change from a mermaid to a human and look completely different and has other magical powers, but Masaya doesn't know that. Her plan formulated and came together, one that is sure to work this time.

She could use this to her advantage. And she refuses to let anything get in her way now.

"This time," She whispered so that only she would be able to hear. "I'll escape. Even if I get killed, at least I'll die trying. I'll escape with Lettuce, and the bastard's first wife. She didn't deserve this." And with that, she left the tea room and headed towards her room, followed by an escort, to prepare an escape from the castle.


End file.
